Before I begin, let me firmly state that I am NOT contemplating taking my own life.

I would prefer if the moderators didn't hide this due to the subject matter because BYOND's audience is roughly the age group I'm looking to get input from. I would also prefer that the comments remain civil. I will probably not post my own thoughts here for that very reason.

Now for the meat.

The subject of suicide has been following me around my entire life. My mother has made attempts quite a few times throughout my life. She's forty two years of age now and she's spent twenty six of those years in constant physical agony. On occasion, her pain becomes unbearable, her medication doesn't help, and she's ostracized for using drugs that do help.

I remember one particular incident when I was twelve, it was late at night, and her and I were the only ones home. Her pain became unbearable and we took a trip to the hospital where she was told that there was nothing they could do. While we were out, a pet of mine had drowned. When we returned, she had blamed herself and come to the conclusion that it was her fault and that everything she's put me through made her more trouble than she was worth and downed a bottle of prescription painkillers. I was the one to make the call for help.

In a more recent incident, my mother's boyfriend tossed her out on her ass emotionally because she smoked marijuana. Through the years, painkillers have never been strong enough to help her without serious side effects (like death) and marijuana has been the only drug that's helped. She went off the deep end this time. For her, both of her kids are grown up (heh) and she thinks that she was a terrible parent to us (she was), her ex-boyfriend, our step-father, of seventeen years was killed in a car accident with major issues between them unresolved, her current boyfriend now hates her (seriously), only for taking the only drug that helps her, and the only thing she ever looks forward to is seeing her granddaughter, my daughter. She came to the conclusion that life was no longer worth living and downed another bottle of prescription painkillers.

Even more recently, my ex-girlfriend tried the same method because I broke up with her.

All three incidents brought up radically different feelings for me; fear, sympathy, and disgust, respectively. I have been thinking heavily about these for months now and I've looked to several mediums for opinions and media to relate to.

With those and several other attempted and successful suicides looming in my background, I hold to non-traditional and underdeveloped ideas of suicide. If discussion arises in comments and it remains civil, I may post my sentiments on the subject. Personally, I could never reach the mental state where suicide was an option. I have people that I need to be there for and projects that I will always need to finish.

I would like to know of your sentiments on the subject of suicide and stories, if necessary.

I think suicide is one of the most selfish acts that can be committed. After woking in a Hospital I have seen so many people who would gladly take a another chance at life, no matter what kind of pain they would endure. To me no matter how sucky your life may get there is no reason for killing youself the end period.

That's an extremely black-or-white viewpoints, which an absurd amount of generalizations. Without a doubt, there are cases where suicide is very much acceptable, though most times it is probably simply people being stupid. Something else to note is that not all people are in the appropriate mental state (i.e., are in depression) when they make those decisions.

Yeah, most people commit suicide over something very trivial. They think they have lived a life of total hell and despair when in reality, there are millions of people around the world that would trade places with them in a heartbeat.

Suicide can be understandable, but never acceptable. It's selfish and cowardly. Instead of facing up to what's going on, they simply give up and run from the issue through the easy way out, death. In the end, everyone knows it does more harm than good as it hurts everyone around the person who committed it.

I really wish I had the source to where this came from. In my Criminal Justice course, we were informed that a study followed people who either attempted to commit suicide or were stopped from doing so. Around 70+% of those years later were glad that the attempt failed and were living a happy life. Where were those other ~30%? I have no clue. (This is a sketchy memory; take it with a grain of salt)

The point was that people sometimes are so quick to use suicide as a means of escape for a certain problem. But if they were to wait that problem out, like most people, more than likely they'll eventually be fine.

Now there are those with chronic pain who no longer want to suffer. Honestly, it's a shame to see a person suffer for their whole life. They should have the option to end it if they wish. But on the contrary, taking your own life does affect many love ones around you.

It'll never be a solution that would please both sides at once. But if you're not in chronic pain, but just having a bad time with relationships, money, and so on. Wait it out.

My view is that, if a person is really sick of life, he should be allowed to suicide. However, I also think (as several people here said) it's a very selfish act, which would hurt people close to you. What's more, as Calus CoRPS said, people who commit suicide usually don't really want it, and oftentimes suicide is a result of wanting attention, or thinking you've been pushed into a corner.

So, my opinion is a bit unconventional: a person should be allowed to suicide if he proves he made the decision calmly, and agrees to talk to a therapist before committing the act. If the therapist is unable to help him, or is convinced the person really wants to do it, and the person himself still wills to commit suicide after a given period of time, he should be legally allowed to do so.

In my opinion, suicide is neither a bad thing nor a good thing.
I usually have issues with on and off depression and at one point I had a noose hung in an old barn in the woods.

Some people who have life in utter hell and have no chance at a better life or somebody, like your mother, who has no chance of escaping a pain-educing ailment I would understand. So in certain cases, I would support suicide(after attempting to help, of course..).

I'm not saying to go let people start Overdosing, hanging themselves or playing a few rounds of Russian roulette, but in a few select cases it would be entirely acceptable.
However a desperate attempt to finding a solution should be taken before offing yourself.

My opinion? Suicide is not exactly selfish. Selfish is when you do something to help yourself and only yourself, and even possibly hurt others. Suicide may seem like this to most, since it relieves the "killer" of pain or whatever they are dealing with but causes those closest to them to feel extreme grief and sorrow, but really, have you ever attempted suicide?

Now, I know most of you are intelligent, But you can't make an good opinion by watching from a safe room away from the action. Its like calling Hitler an fag because of the history books. How do you know what Hitler did and what he was thinking?

In the end, maybe Suicide is bad and people should try to get better. But unless you have experienced someone doing it infront of you or if you attempted it yourself, you won't understand what people are thinking, or why they do it, or why they couldn't get better.

Another example? There are many ways to tie a shoe. You can do the bunny rabbit, around the tree and down the hole, you don't even have to use the regular laces on your shoes. They are too many variations and variables in this discussion of suicide to get any straight-forward facts. Its all biased opinions and educated guesses.

But most of all, I appreciate you for putting this topic up. People underestimate life and don't realize its too short to cuss at eachother and make trouble.

So, in the case of Bill Zeller, you are saying his parents are going to "get over" the fact that his son killed himself, essentially and primarily because he hated them? I would not be in the slightest bit surprised if his mother dies later this year from the emotional trauma he is probably causing her.

No. They can't get over it because their son might've been niave. He could have been to young or immature to understand his parents or how much they loved him and did the wrong thing. Or his parents could be horrible people who are playing a show for the public.

Since none of you know the truth since you aren't in their family or stalk them, then you can't make such biased opinions about it without looking like a dumbass.

Personally, I think Bill Zeller was just another kid way over his head who didn't understand the world around him and took the easy way out because no one showed him the right way.

Maybe in the ones that reach "the news" or that are publicated, but you don't know that every since suicide was just selfish. You don't know if the person was depressed and in serious pain or if they had been abducted and starved and had to kill themselves because they was no hope of rescue.

And, if you had read my whole post, you wouldn't say I condridicted myself, since I didn't neccecerily said that Suicide isn't selfish.